Chapter 80 – Agency Occupation (1)

Katrinne felt her body stiffen at the man’s gaze.

The man was looking at her. As if he could see right through her.

‘Foresight?’

Katrinne frowned, sensing the magic flowing from the man’s cross-shaped pupils.

“Shall we go now?”

At the newcomer’s words, Yi-ho began to tremble.

He had thought he was a trustworthy adult. But that had been a delusion.

“Who are you?”

Seeing Katrinne ask so boldly, the man smiled with amusement.

“Little lady. Someone just died. Aren’t you scared?”

“Not particularly.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t be. You must have seen countless deaths with those cute eyes of yours.”

“…!”

His glistening eyes.

His gaze, as if satisfying a deep curiosity, soon formed a smile.

Katrinne could feel it.

This man hadn’t killed the childcare worker for no reason.

It was to easily control the children.

To instill fear.

“To me, this seems like the right choice. Have you had a change of heart about coming along?”

The man raised a pistol and aimed it at Katrinne’s forehead.

Seeing this, Yi-ho’s small shoulders flinched.

“I’ll go, we’ll go!”

Yi-ho’s shout rang out.

The man glanced at Yi-ho before his eyes met Katrinne’s again.

Then, the corners of his mouth lifted.

“You must be Seo-yeon, the one who’s family with the Hero.”

“…”

Katrinne tried not to show any reaction. More than how he knew her, her ears perked up at the word he used.

Hero.

The person that word referred to was Ajeossi.

The fact that he knew Ajeossi was the Hero meant…

“Nice to meet you. You’re pretty. Hmm, should I kneel? No, this isn’t that place, so I won’t bother with formalities. That’s alright, isn’t it?”

“Who are you?”

“Me?”

At Katrinne’s question, the newcomer gave a placid smile.

“Hmm, a dimension traveler. I suppose that’s the best way to put it.”

The screams that had been audible for a while finally ceased.

As did the sound of gunfire.

Before long, blood-soaked men approached from behind the newcomer.

“Kei. This side is ready.”

The man called Kei leaned down and whispered to Katrinne.

“Hmm. Shall we go together?”

Katrinne didn’t answer.

“Right, I know even if you don’t say it. Follow me.”

Kei spoke and answered himself.

“I have something I want to ask.”

“That’s right. Foresight. It’s probably a bit different from yours.”

Answering the question Katrinne wanted to ask, Kei smiled with his faintly glowing, cross-shaped pupils.

*Pik!*

Just then, a sharp crack echoed through the air.

“Aaaaargh!”

Kei shot the leg of an agency employee his subordinate had brought over. In an instant, blood spread across the floor like a red carpet.

“Now, children. Come out quickly. There’s no time. If you’re late, this lady here will die. She won’t be able to speak anymore.”

Seeing Kei aim the gun at her again, the woman wailed, sobbing and begging him to stop.

The children, who had been watching the situation, came out in an orderly fashion.

The bright, happy eyes of the children who had been enjoying chicken just moments ago were gone.

Lifeless eyes.

Seeing those eyes again, Katrinne bit her lip without realizing it.

“There’s no such thing as a useless person in this world. Right?”

Kei gave Katrinne a broad smile. As if asking for her agreement.

***

The news that the agency had been forcefully occupied instantly became a headline.

A flood of critical articles poured in over the news that the core institution managing Hunters had been taken over by a mere group of Villains.

The very place meant to catch Villains had instead been captured by them.

It was a major incident where the government’s usual reactive measures—locking the barn door after the horse has bolted—wouldn’t work.

Belatedly, the area was cordoned off and police forces were deployed to suppress the Villains.

“What is this?”

The dispatched police officers felt something was wrong when they arrived at the agency.

No, it was impossible not to notice something was wrong.

Obstructed vision.

A thick fog had spread out, centered on the agency building.

Seeing the sudden change in weather in broad daylight, the officers felt a surge of tension.

“Don’t tell me…”

“A Gate?”

The fog, which had appeared as if from a smoke bomb, was enough to instill a silent dread.

“Hold your positions for now. The military and Hunters will be here for support soon…”

The police commander was giving orders to his unit when he stopped short at the sound of a woman’s sudden scream.

“Kyaaa! H-help me!”

The officers drew their Tasers and surrounded the area where the scream had come from.

“Are you alright, ma’am?”

A woman with long hair was crawling on the ground. Her face was contorted in pain.

A victim who hadn’t managed to escape.

An officer holstered his Taser and helped the injured woman up.

*Thwip.*

In that moment, the officer felt something enter his neck.

*Gurgle!*

He tried to speak, but it felt like the words were leaking out.

Blood poured endlessly from the hole in his neck.

“Damn it!”

His partner nearby fired a Taser at the woman. But she vanished, leaving only an afterimage.

*Thwip.*

Once again, the woman smiled brightly as she precisely plunged a knife into her opponent’s neck.

“Yes, scored a Taser.”

Two police officers, murdered in an instant.

There were others witnessing the deaths of the victims who couldn’t even scream properly.

*Click, clack.*

The scene of the police officers being murdered was being streamed in real time.

An internet stream suddenly appeared in the related search results.

People were flocking to it one by one.

Watching the scrolling chat, the woman who had just committed murder looked at the camera with a bright smile and blew a kiss.

Police cars with wailing sirens were converging on the area around the agency.

“But Kei-oppa. Won’t my face be all over the place if we do this? Is that okay?”

-You look pretty, so don’t worry.

“Mhehehe. Then it’s fine.”

The woman figured that if Kei said it, there must be a reason.

Absolute trust.

That was what existed between the woman and Kei.

“Kei, the smoke screen is complete.”

“Good.”

Kei smiled as he received his subordinate’s report.

Making a plan is such a delightful thing.

You set up the day’s schedule, align the gears, and when you turn them, they move seamlessly in order.

Watching it all unfold is an incredibly rewarding experience.

“Kei, but to do something like this…”

“Yes, you have a point. But right now, this is the correct answer. There are more than just one or two dimension travelers who have crossed over to this land. So why are we in the minority?”

Kei posed the question and immediately gave the answer.

“We have no symbol. This is extremely important. In a sense, we’ve just fired the first arrow. Now, the Villains who have been hiding like rats will start to rise up, one by one.”

As he said this, Kei spread his arms wide and laughed.

“How about it? Isn’t it exciting? The thought of trampling this land of goddamn murderers. Of paying them back in kind.”

“That’s right. We must make them pay for the blood of our comrades.”

Kei’s subordinates hardened their resolve, as if in agreement with his words.

Seeing the look in their eyes, Kei turned back to the monitor with a satisfied expression.

The reaction to the live stream was explosive.

Kei was extremely pleased. He found the reaction to the collapse of what they knew as safety, a symbol of the nation’s power, at the hands of mere Villains, to be delightful.

“Yeo-jin. More guests are arriving. Take the team with you.”

-Got it, oppa.

The blood-soaked woman called Yeo-jin grinned bashfully as she prepared for battle.

Soon, her team members appeared behind her, drawing their weapons in support.

“Who are you people? Hands up!”

“Villains?”

The responding police cars parked as if to form a barricade, and the officers aimed their pistols at the suspicious individuals holding weapons.

“Hands.”

Kim Yeo-jin raised her hands with a mischievous smile.

“But I don’t want to.”

The moment she spoke, her companions rushed toward the police who had their guns trained on them.

At the critical moment, an officer fired first.

*Bang!*

A large man who was hit by the pistol shot staggered and fell backward.

The Villains sneered at their fallen comrade. They immediately fanned out and charged the frozen police officers.

“Fire! Shoot!”

*Bang! Bang!*

Dodging the police gunfire, the Villains swung their weapons.

*Schwing!*

A police officer’s head was severed, rolling onto the hood of a police car.

*Crack!*

An officer struck by a giant hammer was embedded in a car’s windshield, twitching intermittently.

In an instant, dozens of police officers began to be massacred by the four Villains.

The large Villain who had been shot first got up, scratched his head, and rejoined the fight.

“Yes, looted a pistol.”

The blood-soaked woman giggled as she collected the officers’ pistols and put them in her bag.

“Why are you picking up trash like that? So lame.”

“Hey, you don’t pick any up then. I’ll do the looting. These things can always come in handy.”

The man with the sledgehammer and the woman in red conversed like that.

“What the hell are these bastards?”

Just then, more people arrived at the scene of the slaughter.

“Wow, they’re completely insane. What kind of Villain bastards are running wild in broad daylight?”

Five Hunters from the Shinhwa Guild grimaced in disgust at the bloody scene around them.

To suppress the Villains, the top elites and S-rankers from each guild had been dispatched.

However, they had learned something from the recent dragon incident.

No matter how much of an all-out battle they waged, they had to keep a minimum safety net in place.

The first Hunters to arrive at the agency as backup were members of Team 6 from the Shinhwa Guild, the number one ranked guild in the country.

The Shinhwa Guild was composed of ten teams in total.

Being the 6th team meant they were about mid-tier, but they would be considered a top team in any other high-ranking guild.

Because Shinhwa never kept half-assed Hunters.

The elitization of all Hunters.

That was the motto of the Shinhwa Guild.

“Oh, look like they know how to fight?”

The group of Villains actually welcomed the Hunters’ appearance. The numbers were even, five-on-five.

“Formation A. Take them down immediately.”

At the Team 6 Leader’s command, the Shinhwa Guild members drew their respective weapons and prepared for battle.

“Oh, they’re getting into a team formation.”

“Shouldn’t we do something too?”

“Just charge in. Why overthink it?”

Kim Yeo-jin held the smart pistols she had taken from the police in both hands.

*Bang, bang!*

The battle between the Villains and Hunters began with the sound of pistol fire.

The Shinhwa Guild complemented each other in a phalanx-like formation born from systematic training, while the Villains scattered to surround their opponents, leading to a melee.

The tanker deflected all the incoming bullets with his shield.

In that instant, a giant sledgehammer came crashing down from above.

*KWAANG!*

The tanker filled his shield with magic to block the attack, but he felt a shock as if his bones were being crushed.

No, his arm actually snapped, and the shield fell to the ground.

“Hyun-soo!”

“Aish, why are these pistols so weak?”

“Smart pistols are non-lethal, so their penetration power is low.”

“What? Then how are they supposed to catch Villains?”

“Not our problem.”

The Villains chatted casually amongst themselves.

Kim Yeo-jin threw the pistols to the ground and took out a knife she was more familiar with.

“Yeah, this feels so much better.”

Licking her lips, Kim Yeo-jin vanished from her spot as if she had sprung away.

A flurry of shouts and screams.

Hunters rolling on the ground.

The battle was one-sided.

“Why are you guys so weak?”

Kim Yeo-jin smiled, wiping the blood that had splattered on her cheek.

The Hunters were defeated in an instant.

‘They’re strong.’

The Team 6 Leader thought, catching his ragged breath.

The Villains possessed an unexpected level of strength.

“No, that’s not it. We’re the strong ones.”

Kim Yeo-jin said with a bashful smile.

“Because we’ve dedicated everything to this moment.”

Solely for the sake of revenge.

For that one purpose, they had crossed dimensions to arrive here.

There was no way they could be weak.

Because for that, they had made a deal with a devil.

“Hoo, but he’ll be different.”

The Team 6 Leader muttered, struggling to his feet.

The fortunate thing was that ‘he’ was here.

“What’s this? Did I just nail the timing?”

The direction the Team 6 Leader pointed.

An S-rank Hunter from the Shinhwa Guild appeared.